Prioritized-routing for an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer, mobile radio access system

ABSTRACT

An ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio access system having a series of remote terminals, where each remote terminal is capable of forming a link, or hop, of the routing of a call made by one of the series of terminals. The status of the battery of each terminal which may potentially form part of the routing path of a call is reported to other terminals, whereby the routing path for a call will be decided also based on the status of the battery-charge of each terminal along the routing path.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of patent application Ser. No.09/815164 filed Mar. 22, 2001.

Priority of provision application Ser. No. 60/248,182, on Nov. 13, 2000is herewith claimed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a method of routing radio telephonecalls of an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system, and, in particular, tosuch an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system disclosed in copendingapplication Ser. No. 09/705,588, filed on Nov. 3, 2001, entitled“Methods and Apparatus for Coordinating Channel Access to SharedParallel Data Channels”, which application is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety. The network system having coordinating channelaccess to shared parallel data channels via a separate reservationchannel of copending application Ser. No. 09/705,588 is directed to anetwork system, such as radio network, where each node, or radioterminal, of the network is capable of serving as a node or hop of arouting path of a call from another, or to another radio terminal. Inthat system, communication between nodes or radio terminals is achievedusing Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA)protocol with the addition of multiple parallel data channels servicedby one reservation channel. By dedicating a separate reservation channelfor the multiple parallel data channels, collision-free access by all ofthe competing nodes or terminals of the service group of the network isgreatly reduced. Communications between terminals or nodes is set up byinformation exchanged on the separate reservation channel, whichinformation includes all of the call set-up information such as datachannel desired to be used for transferring voice, video or data, thedesired power level of at least initial transmission, messaging such asRequest-to-Send (RTS), Clear-to-Send (CTS), Not-Clear-to-Send (NCLS),Acknowledgment (ACK) for indicating reception of the transmitted call,Non-Acknowledgment (NACK) for indicating improper reception of the call,etc. In this system, in order to further ensure fast, adequate andcollision-free transmission and reception, besides a primary modemtypically provided with the transceiver of each node or terminal, asecondary modem is also provided which is dedicated to the reservationchannel when the primary modem of the transceiver is occupied, such aswhen sending out data on a data channel. This system also provides forcollision free transmission and reception between nodes or terminals bytransmitting the reservation and data channels in time slots of timeframes, with the information as to which time slot is to be used beingincluded in the messaging transmitted by the reservation channel. Such aformat not only provides collision-free transmission, but also allowsfor Quality-of-Service (QoS) for different types of Class-of-Service(CoS), Thus, not only may voice and video be transmitted, besides data,but voice and data transmission may be prioritized, so that whencompeting calls vie for a data channel, the delay-dependent voice orvideo transmissions will take precedence. This prioritization isaccomplished by assigning prioritized calls for transmission in earliertime slots of a time frame.

The network system disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/705,588ensures that every node or terminal of a service set of terminals hasthe most information regarding all of other terminals of that serviceset, so that the choice of data channel to be used, any required delayis transmitting the call, information on power level, and the like, arechecked and updated by each terminal by a practically continuousmonitoring of the reservation channel.

As explained above, the system disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No.09/705,588 utilizes protocol that provides collision-free channelaccess, which also emphasizes improving geographic reuse of thefrequency spectrum.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,322—Mayer, et al., which patent is incorporatedby reference herein, there is disclosed a radio system is for use, inone embodiment, in battlefield conditions. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peerradio system of this patent does not have, nor require, a base station,as conventional cellular systems, personal communications system (PCS),and the like, require; instead, each radio terminal forming part of thead-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system may alternatively serve as a basestation, in addition to being an ordinary link terminal of the radiosystem, whereby, if one such terminal serving as a base station shouldfor some reason become inoperative, another terminal may take over andserve as the base station.

The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system of U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,322 isbased on a transport-mechanism using a time division duplex (TDD)technique in a code division multiple access (CDMA) system. TimeDivision Duplex (TDD) is a way of maximizing the bits/hz/km2. Such asystem not only may be used for providing commercial voice, but is alsoquite suited to both transmission and reception of data and videoservices. Time Division Duplex (TDD) systems are typically used forpacket data systems as they make much more efficient use of theavailable bandwidth, in order to deliver a much higher effective datarate to the end user. TDD is typically used in fixed wired solutions orpoint-to-point wireless systems because it has its own spectrumlimitations. TDD systems, however, have not been deployed for voicesystems.

In the above-identified provisional application Ser. No. 60/248,182,there is disclosed an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system for use as astand-alone system that is also connected to a cellular network and/orlandline. The ad-hoc mobile radio networking system thereof is capableof receiving and transmitting voice, data and video calls through anynumber of different types of telecommunication networks, such as thePSTN, the Internet, and the like, besides the cellular andnext-generation cellular networks.

In any ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system, a critical consideration isthe status and life of the battery of each terminal forming a part ofthe system. With the arrival of laptop computers, portable digitalassistants (PDAs) and high-tech cellular phones, consumers are beginningto request mobile data services in addition to traditional voiceservices. Such devices are in use much more than traditional cellularphones, and, therefore, deplete their limited-life batteries morequickly. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer system disclosed in theabove-mentioned priority, provisional application Ser. No. 60/248,182,depletes batteries even more quickly, since each terminal can also serveas a router and relay for other terminals of the system, in order toextend the range or provide alternate routes to destinations. Theability to limit the use of the battery, therefore, is a very importantelement and consideration of that system.

In commonly-owned U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/246,833, andcommonly-owned pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/847,170, filed onMay 3,2001 entitled “Time Division Protocol for an Ad-Hoc, Peer-to-PeerRadio Network Having Coordinating Channel Access to Shared Parallel DataChannels with Separate Reservation Channel”, which applications areincorporated by reference herein, there are disclosed a protocol methodand algorithm for ad-hoc network system that is based on least-energyrouting of calls from and between network radio terminals. In simpleterms, the major component of the routing decision is to choose theroute to the destination that uses the least amount of energy over thecomplete route. The major reason for this is that least-energy routingminimizes the radiated RF energy, in order to reduce interferencebetween terminals. A consequence of this is that it creates the mostefficient use of the power supply of the terminals.

There are, also, other components of most conventional routingalgorithms for ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio systems that are generallyrelated to the Quality of Service (QOS). The two major attributes of QoSare: The potential for delay, or latency, and the potential for biterrors (BER) during transmission. However, no present or prior system oralgorithm has taken into consideration the impact of the battery life ofthe terminals, which, as stated above, should be a major and primaryconsideration for any network that consists of hand-held terminals, andespecially for an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system where batteries areused so much more as compared to conventional radio systems such as thecellular network, PCS's, and the like. Since hand-held terminals onlyhave limited battery life in terms of trade off of size and weight,users do all that is possible in order to conserve their batteries, sothat there will be sufficient life in them when they wish to use thedevice. As stated above, ad-hoc networks discharge a battery even more,even when the terminal owner is not using the terminal, since eachterminal may also serve as a base station or a router or a link in therouting decision for connecting a call.

The present invention, therefore, is directed to the provision of theconsideration of the status of the battery-charge of each terminalforming a part or link of an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system, wherebythe routing algorithm and method by which a call from a terminal-sourceis connected to the terminal-destination or to an exterior, independentradio system and/or PSTN interconnected with the ad-hoc, peer-to-peerradio system in which the present invention is deployed, also takes intoconsideration the status of the battery of each terminal by which therouting of the outgoing call is to be connected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, the primary objective of the present invention toprovide an additional criterion to the routing decision of an ad-hoc,peer-to-peer radio system, which additional criterion includesinformation about the status of the battery-charge of each battery whichmay possibly serve as a link for call-routing of call over the radiosystem.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide such asystem where the battery of each radio terminal forming a part of thead-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system continually calculates and transmitsto other, like terminals the status of its battery-charge, whereby eachterminal is capable of taking into consideration the status of eachbattery of each terminal of the radio system when selecting the bestroute for connecting a call.

It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide such asystem where the battery-status information calculated and transmittedto other terminals is used in conjunction with least-energy routing of aradio telephone call in order to choose the route to the destinationthat uses the least amount of energy over the complete route, wherebyleast-energy routing minimizes the radiated RF energy, in order toreduce interference between terminals, and in order to provide the mostefficient use of the battery power supply of the terminals.

According to the present invention, routing algorithms are extended toinclude information about the battery state of each terminal, such thatif a choice of routes is available, one of which includes a low batteryterminal, an alternate route will be selected. Multiple levels ofbattery determination may be used, the number of which may changedepending upon different radio protocols and topologies. For example, aterminal that is in a charging cradle, or hooked up to an external powersupply, will identify itself as having infinite battery life. A terminalwith a fully charged battery will identify itself as having excellentbattery life. A terminal with a low battery life will identify itself ashaving poor battery life, which will indicate that it should only beused for routing emergency data, or in the case of no other availableoption. Once the battery drops below some configurable threshold, theterminal will identify itself as having no battery life. This will allowthe terminal to reserve some battery life for it's own use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be more readily understood with reference to theaccompanying drawings, where:

FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematics showing a basic, ad-hoc, peer-to-peerradio system with which the method and algorithm of the presentinvention may be used;

FIG. 2 is a schematic showing an example of least-energy routing withwhich the system of the present invention is to be used;

FIG. 3 is a schematic showing the exchange of routing tables of betweenend-users of an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system with which thebattery-status routing method and algorithm of the present invention isused;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are flow charts showing the subroutine conducted by eachterminal of the ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system for initiating thechecking of the status of its battery, either when it is in its idlestate or when it in its stable, alert state;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the subroutine by which the status ofbattery of the terminal is determined for subsequent reporting to othersimilar terminals in order to serve as a basis for calculating the bestroute of connection of a radio telephone call;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the subroutine performed at theterminal-source that is initiating an outgoing radio telephone call, inorder to actuate the subroutine for determining the best routing of itsoutgoing call; and

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the routing table messaging subroutinefor establishing the outgoing radio telephone call which may be basednot only on least energy routing, but also on the status of the batteryof each terminal-link potentially forming a part of the route forconnecting the outgoing radio telephone call.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, and to FIGS. 1-3 fornow, an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system is shown. The ad-hoc radiosystem consists of a series of radios or terminals 10, which maycommunicate directly with each one to another, as shown in FIG. 1A, orto other terminals 10 via link-routing where other, intermediateterminals are used, as shown in FIG. 1B. For simplicity, only three suchterminals 10 have been shown in FIG. 1B, it being understood that thead-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system will employ a multitude of suchterminals, whereby the routing of a call from one terminal to anotherwill employ a number of other, intermediate terminals. Such an ad-hoc,peer-to-peer radio system is disclosed in the above-mentionedcommonly-owned applications Ser. Nos. 60/246,833 and 09/847,170, and inpriority application Ser. No. 60/248,182. The present invention appliesto all types of ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio systems, but has particularrelevance to type disclosed in the above-mentioned copending U.S.application Ser. No. 09/705,588.

In the ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system disclosed in above-mentionedpatent applications, routing of a radio call from a source-terminal to adestination-terminal is achieved by a method and algorithm thatcalculates the routing path based on least energy; that is, the majorcomponent of the routing decision is to choose the route to thedestination that uses the least amount of energy over the completeroute. The major reason for this is that least-energy routing minimizesthe radiated RF energy, in order to reduce interference betweenterminals. As a result of this, it creates the most efficient use of thepower supply of the terminals.

FIG. 2 shows an extreme example of what happens without using leastenergy routing. The radio source uses a direct route to the destination.This route requires high power, which results in a large number of otherradios being interfered with. Therefore, according to least energyrouting disclosed in the above-mentioned, commonly-owned U.S.applications Ser. No. 60/246,833 and 09/847,170. The source radio willchoose an alternative routing path with a greater number of radio-hopsthrough intermediate terminals, which will result in reducedinterference in the other radio terminals.

There are, also, other components of most conventional routingalgorithms for ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio systems that are generallyrelated to the Quality of Service (QOS). The two major attributes of QoSare: The potential for delay, or latency, and the potential for biterrors (BER) during transmission.

As seen in FIG. 3,the routing of calls is achieved by each terminalstoring a routing table if that terminal is to be part a link, or hop,of the routing path. This routing table includes all of the informationrequired by the source-terminal in order to determine and calculate theleast-energy path of routing of the call from source-terminal to thedestination-terminal. Adjacent or proximate terminals 10 exchangerouting tables, as seen in FIG. 3, whereby when a call is to be set upfrom a source-terminal, each terminal 10 already knows the routing tableof its most immediate or adjacent neighbor-terminal, whereby a call maybe routed to another destination-terminal, or to a router or gateway 20,for subsequent transmittal of the call to another similar cell ofterminals, to a cellular switched network, or to the PSTN, and the like.

In accordance with the present invention, additional information isadded to each routing table of each terminal 10, which additionalinformation contains information about the status of the charge of thebattery of that terminal, whereby when routing tables are exchanged, thebattery status of each terminal is also taken into consideration whendetermining or calculating the best and most efficient routing path totake for completing a call from a source-terminal to adestination-terminal.

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, each battery ofeach terminal 10 may assume one of four status-conditions of 2 bits, ormore than four status-conditions may be employed:

00 critical 01 poor 10 full 11 infinite.When a terminal 10 is in a charging cradle, or hooked up to an externalpower supply, it will identify itself as having infinite batterylife—code 11. A terminal with a fully charged battery will identifyitself as having excellent battery life—code 10. A terminal with a lowbattery life will identify itself as having poor battery life—code 01,which will indicate that it should only be used for routing emergencydata, or in the case of no other available option. Once the batterydrops below some configurable threshold, the terminal will identifyitself as having no battery life—code 00. This will allow the terminalto reserve some battery life for it's own use.

“Battery Conservation Algorithms”

The components of the system of the present invention described aboveare independent of the link layer of the ad-hoc transport of that systemdisclosed in the above-identified commonly-owned patent applications.The present invention adds the capability to the routing layer andcall-control layers of the ad-hoc network system, in order to permit thefunction of battery-conservation to be accomplished.

The basic reasoning behind the algorithm of the present invention is toadd a component to the routing decision that includes consideration forthe state of the battery. In order for this to work, the routingalgorithms are extended to include information about the battery stateof the terminal, such that if a choice of routes is available, one ofwhich includes a low battery terminal, the alternate route will beselected.

Referring now to FIGS. 4-7, there are shown the flow charts for themethod of adding battery-status information to the routing tables of theterminals 10. Each terminal periodically wakes up in order to check itsown battery status (FIG. 4A 0 Blocks 30, 32), after which it willupdate, if necessary, it routing table (FIG. 5). If the status remainsunchanged, then the status of the battery of that terminal will remainunchanged, or stable, as shown in FIG. 4B (block 36), and no change willbe made to that terminal's routing table. Again, periodically, theterminal will self-test its battery life (block 38). The battery statusis checked using the subroutine “Evaluation” (blocks 34 and 40 in FIGS.4A and 4B, respectfully).

Referring to FIG. 5, the “Evaluation” subroutine 42 is shown. Thissubroutine determines whether or not its terminal's routing table needsupdating based on the “check-battery status” subroutine of FIGS. 4A and4B (block 44 of FIG. 5). One the most-recent status has been determined(block 46), it is determined which of the four status-conditions exists:Infinite—block 48(code 11), high—block 50 (code 10), low—block 52 (code01), or critical—block 54 (code 00). If the status determined in block46 is the same as that of the previous results from the “check batterystatus” subroutine, then the program goes to block 56, indicating thatthe terminal's battery is stable, indicating that no change of statusfrom the previous determination has occurred, whereby no change is madeto the terminal's routing table. However, if there has been a changefrom the previous status, then the program will update the terminal'srouting table to the appropriate code-value. The update need notnecessarily be a downgrade; if, since the last status-check of thebattery the battery had been recharged, then a status-upgrade to therouting table will ensue. The updated routing table will be transmittedto each adjacent terminal of the ad-hoc, peer-peer-radio system,preferably as part of the configuration data time-frame messagingtransmitted and received on the control channel, as disclosed incommonly-owned U.S. application Ser. Nos. 60/246,833 and 09/847,170,which are incorporated by reference herein. Radio terminals of thead-hoc, peer-to-peer system thereof routinely exchange routing tableswith their neighbors, either after some configurable time delay, whichis typically several seconds, or when they note a change in theenvironment or view of the neighbors. The battery condition of theterminal then becomes a new and critical factor or parameter of therouting update message, which, according to the present invention, isincorporated into the updated routing table messaging.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, there is shown the flow charts for a sourceterminal 60 determining (block 62) the optimal route 64 for the type ofcall it is sending. In FIG. 7, the routing table messaging subroutineincludes calculated values for the Code Rate (block 66), the Symbol Rate(block 68), the Power Level (70), and the RTS (Request to Send) messageto another node-terminal or gateway (block 70), after which is waits forthe CTS (Clear to Send) message (block 72) from the other terminal orgateway.

“Terminal Battery Determination Algorithm”

The following are algorithms for performing the battery-status check andupdate of a terminal's battery, and its consideration in the routingdecision made by a source-terminal.

/*This algorithm is used by a hand-held terminal to define the batterystatus and will report to other terminals in the routing data exchange:*/ IF power_source = external THEN Battery := infinite ELSE IFbattery_level = full THEN Battery := excellent ELSE IF battery_level >=config_param_battery THEN Battery := poor ELSE Battery := critical /*config_param_battery is a system parameter that is provisioned over theair or the terminal interface that defines the threshold for eliminatingthe terminal from the routing options. This should range from 25% to 50%of the available battery power. */

Terminals exchange routing table information on a regular basis via thetime-frame messaging on the control channel of the ad-hoc, peer-to-peerradio system. These messages include information on the terminals thatthe initiating device can see and the parameters that it understandsabout those terminals. The critical components are the quality of thelink between the initiating device and all those terminals, the datarates that it could maintain on those links, and the congestion level ofthe terminal. To this information is added the present invention'sindication of the battery level of the initiating terminal.

The routing update message includes a new field battery_condition:

battery_condition (2 bits)

02 critical 03 poor 11 full 11 infinite

As previously mentioned, there are several schemes that can be employedby the source of a message to determine the optimal route to thedestination. The following algorithm is based on a minimum energyrouting algorithm.

source-routing (message_ptr,msg-length,destination, msg-type) /* sourcebased routing including link adaptation algorithm */opt_route(destination, msg_type) /* determine optimal route todestination this will return the best available  route based on Class OfService (COS) from msg_type and other network  parameters including linkquality and battery life. The returned informa-  tion will be used tocalculate the data rate and power level */ calc_symbol_rate (sym_rate)calc_code_rate (code_rate) calc_pwr_level (pwr_level)send_msg(RTS,msg_length,destination,sym_rate,code_rate,pwr_level) /*send RTS to first router and await CTS to send the data packet

The Symbol Rate is a standard calculation of the number of RF chips tobe used to define a symbol or bit of data in the transmission.

The Code Rate is conventional, and is a function of the direct sequencespread spectrum, and, specifically, the spreading code PN to be used forthe transmission.

Power Level is defined in 1 dB steps between −27 and +28 dBm, where 28dBm is approximately equivalent to the maximum power allowed under FCCRules for the ISN band; for other RF spectrums, the range may vary.

opt_route (destination, msg_type)

RTS refers to Request-To-Send message; CTS refers to Clear-To-Sendmessage; msg refers to the message sent from each terminal. The “code”is one of the four 2-digit codes of the battery status described above.

/*This algorithm determines the best route to the destination based onthe COS in the message type.

The following example illustrates the decision process:

-   Route1 term1→term4-   Low latency, worst battery level=excellent, BER=high-   Route 2 term1→term2→term4-   High latency, worst battery level=good, BER=low-   Route 3 term1→term2→term3→term4-   High latency, worst battery level=poor, BER=low-   Route 4 term1→term5→term6→term4-   Low latency, worst battery level=poor, BER=low

BER is Bit-Error-Rate; latency is delay.

In the case of a voice call that has a COS that can tolerate a high BERbut not high latency, it would choose route 1 over route 4 because ofthe battery and because it cannot tolerate high latency.

In the case of a data call that has a COS that can tolerate high latencybut not high BER, it will choose route 2 over route 3 or 4 because ofthe battery.

In a second embodiment, instead of utilizing four battery levels in thealgorithm of the invention, there are seven battery levels used andreported.

Battery—A value from 0-7 designating the following battery conditions:

0. IAP; 1. Wireless Router; 2. Subscriber Device with non-battery power;3. Subscriber Device with nearly full battery (>80%); 4. SubscriberDevice with battery level (>50%); 5. Subscriber Device with batterylevel low (>20%); 6. Subscriber Device (or Wireless Router) with minimalbattery (>0%); 7. Subscriber Device: Don't Use Ever. This preventionshould be capable of being chosen by the network manager remotely.

The following is an example of the routing table messaging used in thepresent invention incorporating seven such battery status indications.

1 Ad-Hoc Routing Header Mod ID (8 bits) Msg ID (8 bits) Version (8 bits)TOS (8 bits) Lateral (1 bits) Sequence Num (8) Carrier ID (16 bits) TTL(hops) (7 bits) Source Address (48 bits) Destination Address (48 bits)Payload (X bits)

This is the standard header for all AHRL inter-node messages. ThePayload field may be an IP message to be transmitted, or any other AHRLmessage going over-the-air. Each field is describes as:

-   Mod ID: the module generating the message-   Msg ID: the unique message type identified assigned and known on a    module-by-module basis.-   Version: The software version being used by the generating terminal:    4 bits for major rev, and 4 bits for minor rev.-   TOS: the standard internet TOS field which effects QoS. Inter AHR    messages shall set the TOS based on a lookup table of values TBD    which is based on the payload being sent.-   LAT/TTL: The TTL (time to live) field is the estimated hop count    based on the number of hops indicated in the routing table. One is    subtracted from this count at each relaying node. If the TTL reaches    zero, then the message is destroyed. The Lateral bit is used to    indicate that this message has been laterally forwarded, and the hop    count is not decremented.-   Carrier ID: This value is used to distinguish one Arachnet system    from another.-   Source Address: The 48-bit hardware address of the originating    terminal of the message.-   Destination Address: The 48-bit hardware address of the destination    terminal.-   Payload: Any block of data that is to be transmitted over-the-air.

2. Routing Advertisement Message (RA) 2.1 Routing Advertisement HeaderNode Addr (48-bits) Seq. Num (8-bits) Num Entries (8-bits) Metrics(32-bits)

-   Note Addr—The 48-bit address of the sender of the Routing    Advertisement.-   Seq Num—A sequence number which is incremented each time a node    sends a Routing Advertisement.-   Num Entries—The number of entries in the Routing Advertisement.-   Metrics—The metrics associated with a sending node. See section 3.

2.2 Routing Advertisement Entry Node Address (48-bits) Next Hop Address(48-bits) Metrics (32-bits) Repeat up to MAX_RA_NODES . . .

This is the Routing Advertisement message, which is defined in theRouting module spect. It is contained within the RT to TC IMM.

-   Node Address—The 48-bit address of the destination being reported by    the sender of the Routing Advertisement.-   Next Hop Address—The 48-bit address of the node that is being used    as the next hop from the sender of the Routing Advertisement towards    the destination being reported.-   Metrics—The metrics associated with the destination being reported.    See section 3.

3 Routing Metrics Energy (16-bits) Hops-3 Congestion-3 ^(Mobility-1)^(Ra Heard-1) Battery-3 pad-5

The metrics sent in the routing advertisement are used to determine aLink Resistance value that becomes the cost associated with the route tothe destination. The metrics are associated with the best path that thesender has currently chose to reach that destination. The following aredescription of each metric:

-   Energy—A value that is calculated with the formula:    Cost=10 dB+(Power Level)+10* log10 (Max Data Rate/DataRate)

EXAMPLE 1

Power Level=−10 dbm, Data Rate=8 MbpsCost=10+(−10)+10* log10 (8/8)=10+(−10)+0

EXAMPLE 2

Power level=+30 dbm, Data Rate=500 kbps.Cost=10+(+30)+10* log10 (8/0.5)=40+10*1.2=52The range for this value is 0-52.

-   Hops—The number of hops to the sender of the RA to the destination.-   Congestion—The average quantized level of congestion from the sender    of the RA to the destination (range 0-7).-   Mobility—A bit designating whether or not the destination node is    currently moving.-   Ra Heard—A bit desighating whether or not the sender of the RA has    recently received an RA from the destination being reported.-   Battery—A value from 0-7 designating the following battery    conditions:

0. IAP 1. Wireless Router 2. Subscriber Device with non-battery power 3.Subscriber Device with nearly full battery (>80%) 4. Subscriber Devicewith battery level (>50%) 5. Subscriber Device with battery level low(>20%) 6. Subscriber Device (or Wireless Router) with minimal battery(>0%) 7. Subscriber Device: Don't Use Ever. This prevention should becapable of being chosen by the network manager remotely

There are 5 additional bits remaining for future metrics expansion.Also, there are additional bits in the energy field that may be used.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed, it is to be understood that numerous changes andmodifications may be made therein without departing from the scope andspirit of the invention.

1. A wireless ad-hoc, peer-to-peer network comprising: a plurality ofradio terminals, each being adapted to transmit and receive data, eachsaid radio terminal comprising a battery and a controller adapted togenerate a routing table for use by other terminals in determining therouting path of said data, said controller being adapted to check thestatus of said battery in order to include said battery-status in saidrouting table; a plurality of wireless routers, each including acontroller and being connected to an associated external power supply,such that said controller is adapted to generate a routing tableincluding information indicating that its wireless router is connectedto an external power supply; and a plurality of intelligent accesspoints (IAP), each including a controller and being connected to anassociated external power supply, such that said controller is adaptedto generate a routing table including information indicating that itsIAP is connected to an external power supply; wherein said radioterminals, wireless routers and IAPs base routing of said data on saidexternal power supply information of said wireless routers and said IAPsand said battery-status information of said radio terminals.
 2. Thenetwork according to claim 1, wherein said controller of a radioterminal is adapted to check for a plurality of status indicators; saidplurality of status indicators comprising at least four said statusindicators of: infinite, full, poor and critical; said infinite statusindicator indicating a terminal whose power source is external, saidfull status indicator indicating an approximately fully charged battery,said poor status indicator indicating a substantially dischargedbattery, and said critical status indicator indicating a battery chargebelow a predetermined critical value.
 3. The network according to claim2, wherein said controller of a radio terminal is adapted to check forat least all four of said status indicators.
 4. The network according toclaim 1, wherein said controller of a radio terminal is adapted todetermine and report in said routing table information on least-energyrouting so that the least amount of energy over a selected route ischosen for routing said data, whereby the minimizing of radiated RFenergy is achieved in order to reduce interference between terminals. 5.The network according to claim 1, wherein said controller of a radioterminal is adapted to update the battery status indicator of saidrespective routing table thereof based on the most recent status reportdetermined by checking the status of the respective said battery.
 6. Thenetwork according to claim 1, wherein said controller of a radioterminal is further adapted to generate said routing table, said routingtable comprising time-frame based messaging, said time-frame basedmessaging having said battery-status indicator as a section thereof. 7.The network according to claim 6, wherein time-frame based messaging isbased on time division duplex (TDD) technique in a code divisionmultiple access (CDMA) system.
 8. The network according to claim 6,wherein said routing table of each said terminal also comprisesinformation on least-energy routing so that the least amount of energyover a selected route is chosen for routing said data, whereby theminimizing of radiated RF energy is achieved in order to reduceinterference between terminals, said time-frame based messaging alsohaving a section for reporting least-energy routing of said data.
 9. Thenetwork according to claim 1, wherein said controller of a radioterminal is further adapted to generate information on the class ofservice (COS) being transmitted, and being adapted to report at leasttwo of the following types of COS information: voice type information,data type information, and video type information, whereby routing ofsaid data is based also on the said type of COS information beingtransmitted.
 10. A method of routing data in a wireless ad-hoc,peer-to-peer network the network comprising a plurality of radioterminals, a plurality of wireless routers, and a plurality ofintelligent access points (IAPs), each said radio terminal, wirelessrouter and IAP being adapted to transmit and receive data, each saidradio terminal comprising a battery, and each said wireless router andsaid IAP being connected to an associated external power supply, themethod comprising: controlling each said radio terminal to generate arouting table for use by other terminals in determining the routing pathof said data, said routing table including battery-status information ofsaid battery of said radio terminal; controlling each said wirelessrouter to generate a routing table including information indicating thatit is connected to an external power supply; controlling each said IAPto generate a routing table including information indicating that it isconnected to an external power supply; and controlling said radioterminals, said wireless routers and said IAPs to base routing of saiddata on said external power supply information of said wireless routersand said IAPs and said battery-status information of said radioterminals.